CLASS TRIPS

CLASS TRIPS
Whenever I’m sifting through memories of my education, my class, my teachers, anything to do with school, I always think about our amazing class trips……… there are so many memories, beautiful and exciting, emotional and frightening, but every single trip taught me something special, I learnt about my friends, my teachers, and even myself! Imagine an education filled with some of these moments and experiences: learning to ski on a mountain top in New Zealand, spending time in a traditional Maori marae, jumping off a high rock into a river, abseiling into a deep and dark cave, walking 40 kilometres in 3 days, sitting in a bus for 36 hours straight, climbing and walking around Uluru, swimming beneath a huge waterfall, sleeping under the stars in the desert, watching the sunrise over Uluru, canoeing in a river alongside crocodiles, snorkelling in the Whitsundays, spending 4 days at sea on a little boat, sleeping on the beach watching shooting stars as you fall asleep and the sunrise when you wake up, travelling through Europe for 3 weeks including: France, Switzerland, Spain and Italy…….experiencing different languages, different foods, different cultures, many memories! All these memories helped to bring our class closer together, to strengthen our friendships and to create lasting lessons, an education for life! This type of learning endeavours to strengthen social connection within the group and to teach through direct experience, rather than through abstract concepts. Although Vygotsky speaks about social interaction in the class room, I think he would agree that spending time away with a group, would also be extremely valuable in developing social learning. While we were on our Yr 12 Class Trip, we visited the Goetheanum in Switzerland which is where the Steiner movement is centralised, it was a beautiful experience. We all enjoyed it so much! One of the most amazing and memorable times, it was a beautiful building, lovely people and I think we all appreciated seeing such a strong Steiner impulse on the other side of the world, so far from home.